1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a crystal growth process, and, more particularly, to a process for caging a high concentration of diatomic molecules in solids. The present invention is also directed to solid-state lasers formed thereby.
2. Description of Related Art
Under proper excitation, a diatomic molecule caged in a solid such that all other internal degrees of freedom are frozen, other than vibrational, serves as a laser source through a cascade-type relaxation of its excited vibrational states.
The 2 to 5 .mu.m wavelength region is of interest to the development of solid-state mid-IR lasers. There are many diatomic molecules whose fundamental vibration wavelength falls within the given range. However, the use of such molecules for laser applications as a gas suffers from two drawbacks:
(1) operating pressure must be low; otherwise, the vibrational output is collision-broadened; and
(2) rotational degrees of freedom are active, which provide a source of broadening and an added handle to radiationless relaxation of the excited state (vibrational).
At present, no known state-of-the-art techniques are known which are designed to trap a high concentration of gas molecules in a solid with chosen restricted degrees of freedom.